The Best Dividend ETFs for Your Portfolio

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have changed the face of investing, helping investors to conveniently simplify their lives at low cost. But there are so many ETFs at this point that it can be confusing to find the ones that are best for your portfolio. Here are four of the best dividend ETFs for your portfolio if you lean toward dividend investing.

1. Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF

The first ETF up is the Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF (NYSEMKT: VIG). It has the lowest yield here at around 1.8%. That's pretty miserly, but it is still notably higher than the 1.3% dividend yield of the S&P 500 index. The interesting overlay here is that, like the S&P 500 index, the Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF owns a fairly large number of stocks, with around 300 holdings.

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VIG data by YCharts.

The ETF's construction is fairly simple. The first step is to create a list of all U.S. companies that have increased their dividends annually for at least a decade. Then the highest-yielding 25% of the companies are eliminated (high yield is clearly not the focus here). The companies that are left are put into the Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF with a market-cap weighting.

The ETF hasn't kept pace with the S&P 500 index over time, but if you like the idea of a broadly diversified portfolio filled with stocks that have a history of regularly hiking their dividends, this could be the right ETF for you. Notably, the dividend has doubled over the past decade, which suggests that a lower starting yield can still have a big income effect if you hold this ETF for the long term.

Image source: Getty Images.

2. Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF

Next up is the Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF (NYSEMKT: VYM). This exchange-traded fund is pretty simple, too. It takes all of the dividend-paying stocks on U.S. exchanges and then buys the 50% of the list with the highest yields. The portfolio is weighted by market cap. This ETF has over 500 holdings, so its portfolio is even more diversified than the Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF. The dividend yield is around 2.9%.

VOO Dividend Yield data by YCharts.

Given the focus on yield here, the Vanguard High Dividend ETF has lagged the S&P 500 index over time by an even greater amount than the Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF. But if your goal is to maximize the income your portfolio generates, it could be a great foundational investment. Essentially, these two Vanguard ETFs offer wide diversification and dividends in ways that will meet the investment needs of dividend growth investors and, in this situation, high yield investors.

3. SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 High Dividend ETF

The SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 High Dividend ETF (NYSEMKT: SPYD), meanwhile, allows you to stick with S&P 500 index stocks, but do so with a high-yield focus. It simply buys the 80 highest-yielding S&P 500 stocks, weighting them equally. Equal weighting allows each stock to affect performance to the same degree and helps to reduce the risk that any one stock will overly hamper performance. The dividend yield is an attractive 4.5%, the highest on this list.

SPYD data by YCharts.

Don't buy this ETF looking for material dividend growth over time. The dividend is going to make up a material portion of an investor's total return, but it hasn't risen much over time. However, if you want to maximize income with a hand-selected portfolio of large market capitalization and economically important businesses, the SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 High Dividend ETF should be a top contender.

4. Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF

The Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF (NYSEMKT: SCHD) is by far the most complicated ETF on this list. But it might also be the most attractive, as it manages to mix dividend growth with an attractively high yield. The process starts with the list of companies that have increased their dividends annually for 10 consecutive years. A composite score is created for each of the companies that includes cash flow to total debt, return on equity, dividend yield, and a company's five-year dividend growth rate. The 100 highest-rated companies get included in the ETF and are market-cap weighted.

SCHD data by YCharts.

The end result has been a strongly performing share price, a growing dividend payment, and, today, a roughly 4% yield. The Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF isn't the most diversified, and it isn't the highest-yielding. But it provides a very attractive mix of the two. And, interestingly, it has managed to grow its dividend at a faster clip than the Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF.

For many dividend investors, the Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF's approach of using a fairly complex composite score to select stocks will be the most attractive choice. That said, investors need to recognize that this ETF isn't a simple one to understand. If you don't buy into the screening approach, you probably shouldn't buy the ETF.

Dividend options for every kind of dividend investor

Everyone has a slightly different approach to investing. This quartet of dividend-focused ETFs offers up four different dividend investing styles -- from dividend growth to high yield, and a notable choice that successfully manages to bring different investment tactics into one complex and high-yielding ETF. If you are looking for the best dividend ETF for your portfolio, one of these four ETFs will likely be exactly what you are trying to find.

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Reuben Gregg Brewer has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Vanguard Dividend Appreciation ETF and Vanguard Whitehall Funds-Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.